Welcome to New York
by Mac's lil Sin
Summary: A serial killer after teenage girls comes to the Big Apple. Mac & the crew have to stop him, but Mac's teen daughter decides to help them. Rated T for later chapters for violence
1. It starts

Humming softly as he shifted the keys from one hand to the other and switched with the Chinese food he had brought with him back to his apartment. A look up and down the hallway just out of habit before the door was opened and he walked in, locking it behind him before even setting down the food.

Once assured the apartment was locked for the night, he turned and headed for the living room, stepping down into the pit and setting the three bags on the coffee table, only then straightening up to take off his coat and drop it on the end of the couch before he sat down on the same sofa and began taking out the little take-out boxes of food from the bags. An occasional sniff as one of the smallish little boxes passed his nose and finally choosing the chow mien he grabbed a set of chopsticks they'd shoved into the bag and he took the TV remote, settled back on the couch and turned on the news.

It had only been about 10 minutes when suddenly a pair of arms slid around his neck from behind and a soft female voice purred just behind his ear, "All this food and you don't even let me know you're home?"

"You know something…" he said with a small grin as he took another bite. "It's been far too long since I've had a gorgeous young blonde simply wrap her arms around me and just welcome me home. Now I have to buy dinner for her before I get anything like that?"

The girl snorted softly and slid over the back of the couch like a snake only to sit beside him and tried to peek into the box he was eating from. Fifteen year old Allysin Taylor looked from the chow mien to her father and frowned. "I always give you a hug and kiss when you come home and why are you eating ALL of the chow mien??"

Mac had to laugh seeing her pout and a shake of his head. "You snooze you lose, little girl." A wink after another bite. "And there's more there if you want it. I know you, you endless expanse of hunger."

Sin – as she was best known – brightened up and turned her gaze to the different boxes on the table in front of them and began rooting through, snatching up the orange chicken and a pair of chopsticks and settling back, curled up against him. "So how was work?" she asked as she began on the food.

Mac shrugged slightly at her question and poked at the noodles in his box. "Was work. How else can it go? We got what we needed and wrapped it all up nicely." A shifty look at her chicken and he quickly reached in while she was taking a bite and snagged a piece for himself, a chuckle when she squealed "HEY!" and popped it into his mouth. After chewing a bit, he snorted at her and went back to his own. "When you pay for it you can complain."

Sin gave the best evil eye she could which of course wouldn't mean much or last long for that matter as she went back to her own food. "Well that's good then that you got them, huh?" A look up as she ate another piece of chicken and a smile. She was extremely proud of her father…yeah so there was a massive case of hero worship there.

'Work' was the NYPD crime lab for Mac. He was the lead crime scene investigator, a detective first grade, and ran the CSI department. He'd been doing it for nearly 20 years now and Sin couldn't be prouder of him.

A look shot at the TV and a snort. "CNN...really papi..." and a sideways look as he went back to eyeing her chicken again."Don't you get enough of that cra--"

"Allysin, language." He said as his gaze moved from her food to her face.

An eye roll. "Sorry...don't you get enough of that mess at work?"

He had to smirk and moved, setting the chow mien down on the coffee table again and picking up another little box with some Mongolian beef and moving to sit back once more. "Yes I do, darling...but I also have to see what's going on around New York," And a smirk sideways at her. "That's how you learn everything."

She stopped chewing and looked at him, the edge of her bangs falling against her lashes. "Oh that's right...you're omnipotent."

Mac nodded. "That's right. And don't forget it."

Sin just shook her head but then her attention was caught by the bulletin that flashed on the screen. "What a complete loser..." she mumbled.

Mac threw a look at her quickly but turned up the reporter and his story about the serial killer in Chicago and how he's been at it for weeks now and the CPD were no closer than when he started. Mac frowned at the idea of this guy raping and mutilating teenage girls. So okay...Mac had a bit more than just an employment interest now. "Hush" he said softly and turned his full attention back to the TV.

Yeah granted he was in Chicago, but so had Mac been at one time and it hadn't been all that difficult to get to New York. So as the CNN report went on about how they had found another 15 year old brutally raped and tortured, now bringing his total up to 13, the Chicago PD were nowhere near catching this lunatic.

"Daaaaaaddy..." she whined as she finished off the chicken and snatched up the leftover chow mien he'd set down."I wanna watch a movie."

Mac sighed softly and looked at her. "All right. What?"

Happy little _I still got it_ grin and she picked up the remote and hit the DVD button and "Forrest Gump" started. Mac had to laugh gently, shaking his head and a quiet, "All right all right, brat. We'll watch the movie."

Three hours later, he yawned and stretched best he could with a blonde head in his lap. Having commandeered the remote once more since the credits to the movie weren't particularly thrilling but a smirk down at the sleeping teenager. Well at least she'd made it past the wedding scene at the end, he turned off the DVD player which clicked it back onto the news. And more about the killer.

Mac growled. "If he was _here_ he wouldn't be roaming free…" he said softly to himself. A shift and a mumble from the blonde and he sighed and turned off the TV and gently woke Allysin up. Helping her to get to bed – she was a horrible baby when you had to wake her – then going around and shutting off lights and double checking the door to make sure it was locked, he finally made his own way to bed and after getting ready and changing into a t-shirt and pajama bottoms – miraculously he DID have matching tops to all of the bottoms 7 years ago – he climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling for the longest time. Something didn't seem right. Why couldn't CPD nail this guy? No one could ever be THAT elusive…..and after another hour, he finally turned onto his side and fell asleep.,


	2. Two lost souls

**PART 2**

**_September 11, 2001_**

The quiet of the morning -- if you could call it quiet in New York -- was shattered when the first plane hit one of the Twin Towers. And moments later all Hell broke loose and the second was slammed into by the terrorist flown kamikaze attackers.

Panic and chaos swarmed over the city.

And in the midst of the disorder, an 8 year old blonde girl covered in ash and dirt wandered into the New York Police department in shock and completely lost. The little girl was ushered out of the way, pushed aside to keep from getting stepped on numerous times only to find herself ushered into an elevator. Reaching up to push the button farthest from her, she found herself staring at the crime lab on the 35th floor.

Stepping out of the elevator, she shuffled across the way, looking around and finding it deserted. Large blue eyes would look around and seeing the most likely safest place, she climbed the few steps to the large office enclosed in glass and once inside the office, she found a nice spot under one of the tables of books and into a corner she curled up and fell asleep.

Near midnight, Detective Mac Taylor, head of the CSI lab made his way to his office and to his desk. Not noticing the little curled up ball of dirt under the table. But then his mind was on other things. One specific was the fact that his wife Claire had gone to work that morning. And she worked on the 74th floor of the North Tower.

Even though he tried to fight it, his heart knew that he'd never see her again. But denial is a strong action. And frequently it can overcome an emotion or even common sense. He folded his arms on his desk and dropped his head onto his arms with a heavy sigh.

The sudden flurry of noise of scuffing shoes and whimpers brought Mac back to the here and now and when he looked up he saw the little girl trying to tug the heavy glass door open but the wrong way. Rather than push it since it went both ways, she was trying to pull it so it swung open like it had done when she walked in earlier.

Mac blinked and stood up, walking over but stopping when the whines from the little girl got louder. "Hey there..." he said softly and knelt down to be more at her level."What's your name? Where are you from, little one?"

The little girl turned to face him and pressed back hard against the glass door, her eyes wide with terror. "Nuuuuuuu" she whimpered.

Mac forced a small smile at her and held out one hand. "Come on...I'm a policeman. I won't hurt you."

The little girl knew where she was...she saw all of the uniforms and the badges. Another blink at the man in front of her and she seemed to think another minute but soon enough she wandered over to him and when Mac just started to take her hand, the little girl pounced on him and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.

Mac was caught completely off guard when she hugged him, but his arms wrapped around her tight and he stood up and moved back to his desk and sat down. She was trembling wildly as she curled up on his lap when he sat down and Mac held her all the tighter, a kiss to the top of her head. "Just relax. We'll talk later." But before he'd finished that line, she was asleep again.

"Mac, you know you have to take her to child services." Stella Bonasera, detective first grade and his second in command of the lab.

Mac stared out the window and rested his chin on the sleeping little girl's head. "Please Stella...don't wake her up." he mumbled softly.

"I can't believe you're being so hardheaded about this! You're only using her as a replacement for Claire."

Mac twitched at the mention of his wife and blue eyes turned to glare at her. "Don't say that. And Claire will love her as well when she--"

"Mac! Claire was in the North --"

Mac growled softly and closed his eyes for a moment. "That's enough, Stella."

The female detective studied her boss and his charge for a full five minutes and a sigh as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Mac, I'm only thinking of the both of you. What about children's services? I'm sure you can visit her whenever you want. And they'll find her a good foster home until they find...her parents."

Mac sighed and shook his head. "They're overcrowded, Stella. And there's nowhere she can go." He turned his gaze to his friend again but this time it was more of a defeated look. He wasn't usually the "kiddy" type. He didn't mind kids...but he'd never _seemed _real comfortable with being around them longer than he had to. This was something definitely different. "I can't let her go."

Stella was about to argue more, but then when she saw the look in his eyes, she knew she couldn't tear them apart.

"Her name is Allysin Taylor," Stella said with a smirk seeing Mac's reaction at the last name.

Digging through records and fingerprinting her at the lab the next morning, they had been able to find out that she lived with her mum and dad in an apartment in Manhattan near Park Avenue. They were a well off family, her father making somewhere in the neighborhood of seventy five thousand a year and her mom making close to forty. Allysin was born on August 20 in the middle of a freak storm that hit New York in 1993. She had no other family as both parents were orphans and….." Mac sighed softly as he looked at the little girl that was playing on the computer in his office.

"They both worked at the Towers." Stella said as she finished off reading the report to him.

Both detectives looked at each other for a moment. "What was she…?" Mac started. And then looked at Allysin.

"Well to answer the first, they had a nanny for her. And apparently since both parents were at work early in the morning, neighbors at the apartment building reported that they saw the nanny take Allysin out every morning during the week. Probably to have breakfast with her folks." She studied the little girl closely but then her gaze turned back to Mac. "You're planning on keeping her…aren't you?" she said softly.

Mac still studied the girl and a nod. "And that's so bad?"

Stella knew it wasn't worth another argument and maybe I the long run they _would_ be good for each other. "I think it's great." She said with a smile and a hand on his shoulder. When he looked at her, she nodded. "And if you need anything then just let me know."

Mac grinned at her and nodded and headed back into his office, closing the door and walking over to the desk to kneel down beside the little girl. "Sin?"

Blue eyes would turn from the computer to look down at him and that sunshine smile. "Hi, daddy."

Mac blinked and swallowed hard. She'd been calling him that ever since she'd first woken up a few hours ago and they started doing the tests on her. She must have blocked everything out from the attacks. It was a tragedy she didn't remember her life before but then Mac assumed that it was more of a blessing. At least one person in his apartment at night wouldn't have nightmares and be waking up in a cold sweat. "What're you doing, kiddo?"

"Making you a picture." She said and nodded back at the computer. She'd gotten onto the paint program and had drawn a picture of him and her by a table where they were using a microscope. And that grin back at him. "I'm gonna work in the lab too when I grow up!" and she hit the print tab and after the picture printed out, she snatched it up and handed It to him.

Mac did adore children. They were so innocent and so trusting. And Allysin seemed far too much of both which made her ever more special. He took the picture and took it over to the bulletin board near the door and tacked it up right in the middle. "There!" He said as he turned back to look at her. "Now everyone will see it."

The girl beamed and then a confused look crossed her face. "What'd you wanna talk about?"

Mac shook his head and walked over, snatching her up into his arms as she shrieked and hugged her close. "Nothing, pumpkin….what say we go get some dinner and then some ice cream?"

Allysin nodded emphatically and the pair left the office.

That was 6 years ago. And after that dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and spumoni ice cream, Mac took Allysin home and put her to bed with a story and then the next morning he took her with him into the lab and called social services asking for the protocol to adopt an orphan.

Papers were signed. And after interviews with him and the girl and others in the lab for character witnesses, Sin was his for real.

He enrolled her into a private elementary school and every day he'd pick her up after school and bring her back to the lab until he could go home. She was smart and a fast learner and he realized this as she began spouting off procedures to do different things and different chemical reactions to different substances. And she was only 9.

When the captain had come by and "suggested" that a CSI lab wasn't really a place for a child and Mac argued that she never left his office unless he was there and only on his ok, the captain still insisted and Mac began the hunt for a sitter for the afternoons. Finding an older woman with much experience, and after a thorough background check, he hired her and the first week she met Allysin after school and took her home, stopping at the market on the way. But on Friday of that first week, she had gone to the school to pick up Sin, the little girl wasn't there and there was a panicked call placed to Mac.

Taking the crew and all three black SUVs racing to the school with red lights and sirens blaring, once there, teachers were questioned and black and whites were put on alert and then in the middle of the fracas, Mac's phone rang.

"Daddy?"

"Allysin! Where the hell are you?" he tried not to sound upset but his heart was in his throat.

"At the lab. I thought you'd be here"

Mac blinked as the others stood and watched him when they heard him say her name. Then a wave of relief mixed with anger washed over him and he said softly into the phone, "I…had to go out for a bit, sweetheart. I'll be there in just a few minutes. STAY there, Allysin. Do you hear daddy? Don't…move."

The little girl grinned and nodded. "Sure, Daddy. I'll see you when you get here!! I love you!" And she hung up the phone.

Mac looked at the others and then a nod at the SUVs. "She's at the on" And nothing else could be offered now. Especially how a 9 year old got clear across town alone and into the crime lab on the 35th floor without anyone questioning – well. this WAS Allysin we were talking about-- her.

Once back at the lab, Mac literally squeezed between the elevator doors as they were opening just too damn slow for his liking at the lab and ran up the steps to his office. Jerking open the door, seeing his daughter safe behind his desk, he ran over and gathered her into his arms and hugged her tight. "God, Sinny, don't ever EVER do that again, do you hear me?" He sat down in the chair behind the desk and sat her on his lap, fingers brushing the golden fringe from her eyes. She nodded emphatically and Mac frowned. "Why didn't you wait for Mrs. Simms, kiddo?"

Allysin frowned and shook her head as she began toying with his shirt collar, "I don't like her…she's…she's….."

The frown on Mac's face grew deeper "What's wrong, Sin?" And the worst of ideas came to his mind. "Sweetheart….tell me, please? Does she hurt you?" An instant vision of tossing the woman into a cell if she so much as THOUGHT about hurting his daughter….and his gaze traveled over the little girl as fingers gently plied for bruises or any signs of an "ow" when he hit the right spot. "Allysin?"

She slowly turned huge blue eyes up to meet her father's and a slow blink. "She just sits around, daddy. She doesn't **do** anything…not like you….and she never smiles. I don't like 'er."

Mac waited for a moment to make sure that she was finished and a blink down at her then a smirk and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You…..are going to give me gray hair before my time, aren't you?" wrapping his arms around her completely and drawing her up against his chest where she squealed and curled up. "All right then no more babysitter. We'll just have to make the captain see that you're fine here…hm?" and another kiss to the top of her head.

Sin nodded and yawned as she started to drift off in her father's arms.

Mac almost wanted to question her some more about how she got to the lab, but he didn't want to upset her any more today. _That_ little adventure can wait to be told till later. He turned his chair around so he could watch the lab and as everyone went back to what they were doing before being yanked off to go on a kiddy hunt, he had to smirk at Stella as she began to ride herd over them all in his place. Eyes closed, Mac rested his chin on the top of Sin's head and sighed softly. What had he getting himself into

Hope can sometimes be the strongest of emotions. It can help you through another day or it can help through an emotional crisis. But hope is a fragile thing... And 7 months later when it hit him that Claire wasn't coming home…that he had truly lost her and there hadn't been that phone call from her saying she was all right…..Mac could feel the hope slipping away. So rather than lay in pity for himself, he decided to concentrate on Allysin. They were all each other had now.


	3. Welcome to New York

Hopping off of the cross town bus, Allysin shouldered her book bag and headed into the building. Wearing her school uniform still, as well as a pair of ear buds stuck in her ears which were attached to an MP3 player which was blaring: Johnnie Lee Hooker into her brain. A look around as she headed through the front doors, smiles all around to the different faces of police personnel she passed. A finger wiggle of a wave to the desk sergeant and she bounced into the elevator. Pushing "35" she tapped her foot as she watched the numbers change on the LED display and when it finally hit the designated floor, and the doors opened, she left the elevator and was walking across the lab heading for the office. Bouncing up the four steps to the glass door, she tugged it open and went inside seeing her father on the phone. A wave as she dropped the backpack on one of the chairs, suddenly leaned back and let go with a howl, "Owooooo!" as she air-jammed with a bass guitar, and then headed over to him for a hug and a kiss,

"Hi, Papi…" she mumbled softly.

Mac finished the phone call and returned the greeting, pressing a kiss to her cheek, but then tugging the ear buds from her ears. "What have I told you about overly loud noise?"

She pouted and held up the player to show him what was playing. "But it's good music!"

He chuckled and shook his head. "It's great music, love. But you also need your hearing." And he took the player and turned down the volume to a 3 before handing it back to her. "That's better. Now you'll maybe hear me when I tell you to clean your room, hm?" He was only teasing her but it was obvious with the sideways grin up at her. He settled back in the chair and watched as she went to take the little player to shove it into her backpack. "So how was school?"

Sin snorted and when she was done with that, she threw herself down into the other chair in front of his desk and looked at him. "Totally boring and redundant."

"Then maybe we should see about extra classes? Maybe some home schooling?" He'd thought about that option for some time now. She was already doing college sophomore work even though she was merely a freshman in high school. She had far outpaced the school system and they had nothing else to offer her. At least with home school she could advance at her own levels and not be held back. In fact they'd both discussed the subject on more than one occasion and it was decided that if it ever got to the point where Sin felt ready then they would try it.

Allysin nodded as she chewed her bottom lip for a moment. "I was even thinking of taking my tests this year and graduating High School and starting college early…" waiting to see what his reaction to that one would be even though she knew it well.. She'd said it before but he was rather adamant about her staying out of college until she was at least 18. She knew why….it wasn't that he wasn't proud of her or didn't think she couldn't do it…it was merely that with the crowds of kids that hung out in college, Mac felt that Sin wasn't able to watch closely over herself enough to stay away from that type and after a few long discussions about it, Sin came to realize he was right.

As always.

Mac studied her for a minute and when it seemed that he might actually consider the idea, he sighed softly. "Sin…we've talked about that befo—"

She nodded. "I know…." But the defeatedness left her voice as she grinned at him. "But can't blame me for trying again."

"No," a smile back at her, "You got me there."

The phone rang and Mac picked it up. "Detective Taylor." A long pause as he listened, but Allysin didn't like the look he was giving to her over the desk. A slight frown as she reached up and brushed the bangs from her eyes still watching her father. Another few minutes and, "Yeah...we're on the way." And he stood up and headed for the door. "Stay here, Sinny…I'll be back in a little while."

Allysin jumped out of the chair and bounded after him. "Canni go?" she asked brightly.

Mac froze at the door and looked down at her. "Not this time, hm? Maybe next time." He really didn't have an objection to taking her along. He knew any other teenager wouldn't be able to handle it, but Allysin had demonstrated on more than one occasion that she was more adult than even most of his staff. But this time…….

She frowned and hands set on her hips. "You've taken me before….."

Mac forced a smile and brushed the bangs from her face once more and kissed her forehead. "Precisely….and I'll take you again….but this time, love, stay here in and when I get back we'll go out to dinner. Your choice." And he started to leave.

Well no one can say she wasn't stubborn and she started to follow him out but once on the top step to the office, he turned around and frowned. "Allysin, please! Just….stay here. Don't move. All right?" And turning again, he headed across the lab a bit quicker, calling out to Danny, Stella and Lindsay

She'd finished her homework in less than a couple of hours and was playing around on the computer waiting for him, but as she stared at the computer screen not really seeing what was there, her mind kept flashing to the way he'd gotten short with her. He usually didn't get bothered by her like that. And it troubled the teen.

When he finally came back a couple of more hours after that, he seemed tired, but also when he walked into the lab and didn't see her in his office, he whirled and called out, "_Allysin_!?" with such a tone it literally frightened her. She left the microscope she'd been looking through and ran over to him, wide eyed and panting softly.

"What's up?" bright sunshine grin as she appeared in front of him in a flash.

Seeing her immediately in front of him, Mac had to force himself to relax and grabbed her in a hug, pasting a fake smile on his face. "Nothing, darlin'…just got a bit worried not seeing you in the office." It was a lie and he knew Sin would call him on it. Hopefully she'd do it when no one else was around. "So what have you been keeping busy with?"

Damn skippy she'd call him on it! But yeah…she had enough common sense to know better than to make an issue of it here and now. And she also wasn't going to just let the worry in him sit. "I was just looking at some different slides….checking out the striations of the bullets from the last case." A shrug as he led her back over to the microscope and slipped on a lab coat like she had on.

"And here I thought you'd be all over the other slides." He said teasingly. "You're slipping, Sin."

A snort and she nodded at the trays of slides she had liberated from the case. "There're tons here that look interesting. But we can't all start with the fun stuff, pops." She said with a smirk.

Mac chuckled and shook his head as he began to go through the slides and picking some out to set aside for her to look at. "Sinny….we need to talk." His tone again taking seriousness as he looked at her sideways.

She changed the slides in the scope to one of the ones he'd pulled out and went back to looking through the eyepieces. "Hmm?"

He studied her for a long moment. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he watched her. With her hair pulled into that ponytail and chewing on that pencil she looked like she belonged. Like she should. And a shake of his head. "It can wait….tonight at home."

She pulled away from the microscope and looked up at him, the brightest of grins. "Sure, dad….anything you say." And she went back to looking through the slide. "Ooooo!!! What's this?"

Mac nudged her aside for a moment and took a look then pulled back and let her go back to looking. "It's a sample from the occipital lobe of the human brain. Came off of a case a few weeks ago."

She went back to study the slides and he helped her along, staying beside her even as the others came back and went to their different stations and began work. Sin threw a look at the others and then up at her father. "Don't you wanna go rule your troops, commandant?" with a smirk.

Mac playfully elbowed her and nodded down at the slides. "They're fine for now. I'll check in on them later. Right now I want to spend some time with my daughter. Is that so wrong?" But then brows furrowed as his eyes narrowed and he said, "Or are you trying to hide something your old man should know about?"

Sin looked up at him and snorted softly. "Yeah right. Raised by an ex-Marine who's now the lead detective of the NYPD's crime lab? Wow….how many more opportunities can I have to do what I want?" An eye roll and a squeal as he grabbed her in a "choke hold" and hugged her tight.

"Yeah you're officially a brat." He said with a chuckle.

"When're we going to dinner?" she said, wriggling free from him and starting to put the slides away.

"Right now if you want. Let me go tell Stella and the others. Meet you by the elevator?" A kiss to her temple and he headed off.

Opening the apartment door later that night, Mac walked in, turning on the lights and waiting for Sin to come in. "You said you wanted you wanted to talk to me?"

Mac watched her as she walked past him and headed for the couch and flopped onto it, turning back to the door and making sure it was dead bolted. "Yeah, actually. I just wanted to talk to you about…well, about being safe."

"I'm safe, Dad." She said a sideways look.

Mac sat down next to her and as she curled up against his side and offered the remote, he wrapped one arm around her shoulders. It was a long minute before he said softly, "Not when I caught you this afternoon with the music blaring."

"But—"

He raised a hand. "How can you hear someone around you or something happening like what if you started across a street and a car came barreling at you and you couldn't hear his horn because you had that music blaring in your ears?"

Sin blinked. "What're the odds someone would be 'considerate' enough in New York City to honk their horn as they ran a red light?"

Mac sighed softly. "You know what I mean. You can't hear if someone tries to come up behind yo—"

"All right, Mac Taylor…" she said, giving him the eye. "What the hell is this about? You haven't been this paranoid since I was 10."

Mac stared at her and a heavier sigh. Well...he'd always said she was mature. "Sinny….he's here." And a nod at CNN that was kicking off some story about Pakistan.

She blinked and looked at the TV then back at him. "Who?"

"That killer. He's here, In town."

She looked at the TV again and a soft, "But…that's been what now? Three? Four months?" And she turned back to look at him. She stared into his eyes for the longest time and after a full three minutes, she smiled a small little smile and shook her head, one hand rising to brush fingertips against his cheek. "Like I said before…I was raised by an ex-Marine who's now the best cop in the NYPD." And a snort. "No one has the balls to come near me."

Mac let her go on and then finally he smiled and drew her into another hug and a kiss to the top of her head. "All right I was an idiot for even thinking something like that."

Sin curled up into his hug and looked up at him. "Which is also why I don't go out on dates or get asked to do anything after school."

Mac snorted as he changed the channel. Too much news. Too much depression. Besides. soon enough it would be all over the media. Now was the time for the Colbert Report.

"You're kidding me…" she said.

"What?" he said with a blink down at her.

"You have NO idea how to relax, do you?" And she grabbed the remote and changed the channel to _Still Standing_. "Now THIS….is comedy."

Mac bit back the lip twitch and looked at her sideways and the hand with the remote reached up, fingers brushing her bangs away from blue eyes. "I think tomorrow you get a haircut."

She pulled back for a moment then buried her face into the crook of his neck. "Fat chance if you think you can."

"Oooh trust me, little girl. I have my methods."

Sin was about to shoot something back but yawned instead and mumbling some unintelligible remark, but her position and the relative calm after the busy day she was losing the battle to stay awake. Mac turned the TV back to the news and as he felt her breathing even out as she drifted off, he felt his hear jump into his throat.

"_The case of a murdered teenage girl found this afternoon in Central Park in New York City has similar characteristics to a series of murders in Chicago, leading investigators to believe she is another victim of the infamous Windy City Strangler…..."_

Mac just had an evil smirk on his lips as he watched the report. "Welcome to New York..." he mumbled softly.


	4. Nightmare

_The cold of the autumn afternoon cut through the crew as they surrounded the body of the teenager lying in the cold wet grass. _

"_Definitely broken neck would have been the CoD," Hawkes said solemnly as he gently turned the girl's head back and forth, a grating sound as bones dragged against bones in the girl's useless neck. Sheldon looked up at Mac who was standing just beside him. "Pre mortem. He strangled her to unconsciousness. petechial hemorrhaging under the lids," A nod at her eyes. "Then I'd suspect was when he broke her neck." A heavy sigh looking over the girl's body that had been placed specifically. Placed supine with her arms out and her legs bent as if she had been in the middle of a jump and fell over dead. _

"_Cheerleader uniform. Pom poms and all." Mac mumbled as he looked over the area. _

"_And…." Sheldon said quietly. "Heavy bruising on her upper and inner thighs suggest sexual assault." Slowly the doctor-detective stood up and moved to the girl's other side. "The Windy City Killer has definitely found his way to New York."_

_Mac lifted his gaze and looked over at Danny and Lindsay as they combed the brush and area around them and bagged various –hopeful-- clues. A sigh and Mac looked down at the girl again but this time the blonde hair and the blue eyes staring lifelessly up at him…..he gasped as he felt his breath catch in his throat and he blinked, rubbing his eyes hearing Hawkes, "Mac! Mac, are you all right? Maybe you should sit down? Mac!"_

He jerked awake with a grunt as he sat straight up in bed covered in sweat. Looking at the clock on his nightstand and seeing it was only 2:17am, he groaned softly and drew his knees up, dropping his forearms on them and then his forehead against his arms. "Jesus…" he muttered softly and realizing that he wasn't going to get any more sleep tonight, he shoved back the covers on the bed and slowly stood up, stretching.

Making his way out of his room, he stopped for a minute to watch Allysin sleeping and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He knew without a doubt that she could take care of herself. More than once he'd caught her and Danny sparring in the gym and she'd thrown him four out of six times. And Danny wasn't "going easy" on her. Mac could tell. But then the smile faded as he remembered about her affinity for loud music and the lure of the ear buds and MP3s. Anyone can just walk up behind her and drag her off.

Anyone.

As he headed into the kitchen and fixed himself a cup of coffee, he turned to move back to his room and came face to face with the Blonde Terror.

"Sin?"

Half asleep, messy ponytail and stifling a yawn. Dressed in one of his pajama shirts (didn't we tell you he had matching sets until 7 years ago?) and a pair of sleep shorts. "What're you drinking coffee for in the middle of the night?" her head canted a bit and there was a cross between anger and concern at his choice of beverage.

"I….well I just thought it'd be easier to…." A heavy sigh and one hand was drawn over his face.

"Warm milk."

"You know I don't like warm milk." He said with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes and moved into the kitchen and past him, but taking the cup of coffee from him as she did, and dumping it and the rest of the pot of coffee into the sink. "Not until morning, mister." She muttered and moved to start some milk warming in a pot over the flame. Shuffling past him again, grabbing two mugs from the cabinet and then taking them over to set them down by the stove.

"Allysin, I'm fairly well capable of—"

"Hush, old man. If you won't let me take care of you I'll be an orphan by the time I'm 16 and then I won't be able to make your life miserable with all of my complaining how I hate you and I don't want to live here any more and how your rules suck and all that." A giggle. "You know…the final fun times of your teenage years."

She moved to the cabinet and pulled out a package of Oreos and set them on the table and walked over, taking his arm and leading him there as well. "Make yourself useful, Mr. Man. Open those." And she moved back to the pot and finished the cocoa. As she brought the mugs back to the table, setting one in front of him and one in front of her. "All right so do you want to tell me what's wrong or am I going to have to go all bratty kid and throw a fit until you break down and give me the 'Well I was up all night yadda yadda'…." Blowing on the cocoa and a blink up at him. "Your turn."

Mac stared into the cocoa for a moment. He would have rather had coffee to be sure. And a soft sigh hearing her rant and he couldn't help smile. His gaze moved to meet hers and he shook his head. "Honest, Sweetheart. It's nothing."

Allysin stared at him. "Liar."

Mac sighed and shook his head. "I just…..worry about things, kiddo. Things you shouldn't have to know about."

She studied him and a quiet sigh. "That Windy City Strangler again?" And when he nodded, she looked down at the cocoa. "That was what you went out on this afternoon?" Another nod.

"Sin…I just can't stop thinking that this creep is out targeting teenage girls and…"

She nodded slightly. "I know, papi. And you wish I'd be more careful. But there's nothing I can do more than I am other than locking myself in this apartment while you're gone!"

Mac winced knowing in reality she was right. But then a pause and he said softly, "Well I can try a bit more when you're not in school." And his gaze moved to hers. "After school just come to the lab. If you need to go anywhere I can ask Danny or Sheldon to go with you."

Allysin smirked and shook her head. "You'll actually **let** Danny Messer follow me around town? Unsupervised?"

Mac blinked not getting the 'joke' at first then it hit him. Danny had made comments to Sin the whole time she was growing up about how they'd have to ditch the old man and run off together causing Mac on more than one occasion to make SURE to stay between them. They were only kidding, of course, and they both got some sort of maniacal glee driving Mac to the edge. He snorted softly and shook his head. "Danny knows if he's anything less than a gentleman to you, I'll remove any reason for him wanting to stand and p–"

"Dad!!" she cut him off.

A wicked smirk. "Danny loves you, kid. More than anything. If I can't be with you to watch over you I know I can trust him."

She nodded and a little shrug. "All right. I can set with that." She adored Danny and Sheldon both so spending time with them wasn't such a bother.

Mac nodded and stood up, a lean over to her to give her a kiss to her temple. "Don't stay up all night. School tomorrow." He mumbled softly and headed back to his room.

Sin sighed softly and watched him, and once he was gone, she picked up the mugs of cocoa and dumped them, rinsing the cups and setting them in the sick. She shuffled back to her room and back to bed. As she laid there staring at the ceiling she knew that this wasn't going to be an easy case. It seemed her father was taking it far too close to the heart and she knew that wasn't good.

Mornings were always a rush at the Taylor apartment since Allysin didn't believe in them and put off doing what she had to do until the last possible second.

"Allysin Taylor! Let's go!" Mac called at her from the living room, getting her things ready for school.

Sin finished with the uniform and headed out to the living room, a soft snort as she pulled her sweater on and grabbed the book bag. The pair headed out the door until she stopped and yelped "Wait!" and ran back inside, then was out another minute later, wiggling her MP3 player at him with a smirk.

Mac rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Fine…just remember what I told you about that thing. Volume down." And that _Let's Pretend I'm The Father_ look at her for a moment.

Sin nodded and gave him a hug and kiss as she whirled and bounced towards the elevator down the way. Mac had to snicker at her and he locked the door and followed.

The week passed by relatively calmer. As Mac had the others working on the evidence they'd collected from the site and also numerous visits to Sid and the dead girl for anything else. It seemed the trail was going to wear out. But the ex-marine wasn't going to allow that. And he began to push a bit harder on the techs and the others.

"There has to be something we're missing." He said softly as he picked up one of the small plastic bags that held a golden cross still on a thin chain from the girl's neck.

"Hey Mac, do you want me to go pick up Sin?" Danny asked as he walked up to the table.

Blinking out of his fog, Mac looked at the younger detective behind him and a nod. "Sure, Danny…if you'd please." Danny nodded and tugged off his lab coat and headed for the elevator across the way.

Once in the black Tahoe, he weaved through the traffic as he made his way to the school and snorted softly as he found he had to park the truck on the other side of the street since the front of the school was filled with waiting parents. Stepping out of the truck, he trained blue eyes on the front doors as the girls all began spilling out of the school, all squealing and laughing as they paired off with friends and others moved to the waiting cars to take them home. Danny studied the girls as the crowds thinned out but didn't see the familiar blonde and a sudden wave of uneasiness washed over him.

Jogging across the street, he headed into the now even thinner crowd and looked around, spotting a redhead and a brunette he'd seen Sin with. "Hey! You two!" he called out, running up to them.

The girls turned to look at the voice calling out vaguely recognizing it and both smiled seeing the detective. "Detective Messer!" they chorused.

Danny gave the girls a small smile but it was clear, "Hey've you two seen Allysin?"

"She was with Chloe just before the bell rang." The brunette said. "Something about walking with her home. She wasn't feeling good and Sinny wanted to make sure she got home all right."

Danny grabbed the brunette's arm and a soft growl. "Where does this Chloe live?"

The girl winced a bit but pointed over her shoulder. "Down two blocks make a right and she lives in the fourth brownstone!"

The young detective eased off of the girl, a pat to her shoulder and a "Thanks a lot, babe," as he took off running in the direction the girl had said.

Sin came around the corner just as Danny did and seeing as how his momentum was going right along with the level of excitement, it was hard to slam on the brakes and instead, Danny slammed into her, full on, causing her to drop the MP3 player, watching it shatter in two but that was inconsequential to the fact she let out a scream as they collided and was knocked back onto her bottom.

"You stupid son of a bi—"she snarled but stopped when she saw it was…"Danny?"

Danny – when he'd hit her, he tripped and fell and rolled to lessen the impact – looked up at her with that lopsided grin and jumped to his feet, taking her hands and tugging her up as well. "You know, the next time you decide to go playing patient delivery, you might want to use a little thing called a CELL phone."

Sin knelt down and picked up the mangled MP3 player and sighed softly. "Yeah I guess." But then she looked up at him. "How'd you know where I was….?"

"One of your friends. Told me about a _Chloe._"

She nodded. "She got real sick after lunch so I got to leave a bit early from school and bring her home."

"Come on, runt…." He said, dropping an arm over her shoulders and leading her back to the Tahoe. "I'll buy you a new one…."

She nodded slightly and wrapped an arm around his waist as they walked along. "So no word yet on the WCK?"

He blinked and, "'WC—?' Oooh." Smirk. "Nothin' yet. But your dad's got us bustin' our humps and we'll have this weirdo caught soon enough."

"I'm worried about him, Danny." She said looking up at him. "This one is going to drive him nuts. I know it."

"Well then we'll just have to make sure to work harder and figger it out, hm? You can help me when we get back to the lab. I'm going over some of the flora and stuff we found around her. Some of it's not matching up with the Park."

"Really?" she brightened at that and a nod. "All right! You got a deal!"


	5. The Library

Four days passed.

Then six.

Finally a week and Mac's phone rang.

"Taylor..." he said, and a sigh when he heard the voice on the other end. But then his demeanor picked up and he grumbled, "We're on it," and slammed down the phone, getting up and nearly running out of his office, a look over the lab team as they had been frantically working over any little trace they had.

"Danny! Hawkes!" he shouted and when the two pairs of eyes looked up, Mac waved them to join him and when the elevator doors opened and Stella started to walk out, Mac took her arm and a grim look.

"They found another one?" she said and when he nodded, her brow creased with worry. "Where?"

"At Sin's school." he said and they stepped into the elevator, followed in moments by the other two.

When the two black SUVs pulled up to the school, they had to maneuver around the people standing around behind the tape and when the four CSIs got out of the trucks, they scanned the crowd for Sin. Not seeing her only made Mac more impatient and angry and seeing his tenseness only aggravate, Stella muttered to him with a hand on his shoulder, "We'll find her."

The lead detective nodded shortly and seemed a bit relieved, but they still headed in like a force to be reckoned with. Meeting up with Flack in the main front hall, Mac and Stella stopped as Sheldon and Danny went on ahead, guided along by the cops around, Don opened his little notebook.

"She was found about an hour ago. Three students went to the library to study for some math test and they found her in the back of the library sitting at a table lookin' for all the world like she was reading a book."

Mac felt his heart stop for a moment hearing 'library' and looked into Flack's eyes.

"No...it's not Allysin, Mac." he said softly. "We don't have a specific ID on her yet. No wallet or purse. And the girls that found her were in shock enough to where they had to be taken to the hospital. They found her and began screaming and getting hysterical and ran to the front desk. That's when the librarian closed the library and called us."

"And she didn't know the girl?" Stella asked.

"She didn't go back close enough to look she said. She said she saw all the blood and didn't want to get close and just came back to her desk and called the front office and then the PD." Flack recited to her.

"But where's..." Mac said still obviously distracted enough to look around. The front lobby of the school was filled with staff and cops, the headmaster having closed the school down and sending everyone out when the body was discovered. Mac knew a couple of the teachers being questioned...the math teacher, Sin's English professor. and the Gym teacher. There were no students inside and this wasn't comforting him at all. He opened his phone and hit SPDL and 1. A quiet growl as he got her voicemail and left a quiet, "Allysin Taylor call me as soon as you get this." slamming the phone shut again and shoving it into his pocket and turning back to the pair.

Both Stella and Flack looked at Mac and for once in a long time with him, she felt completely helpless. Through everything he'd been through...Claire's death and coming to grips with it...then Peyton deciding to stay in England and leaving him...Allysin was the only thing constant he had in the last 7 years. He'd placed every effort into making the girl happy and completely showering her in love and adoration. There was nothing she ever really wanted for or needed. Mac made sure of it. And if anything had happened to her...Stella knew Mac wouldn't go on.

Danny and Sheldon slowly walked up to the body of the teenager that sat at the library table, head propped on one hand and looking like she was reading the book spread out in front of her. A look between the men and rubber gloves were slid on, cases were set on the table and opened and work began.

"Maybe we should---" Sheldon started as they both advanced on her from either side.

"I know this girl!" Danny said suddenly. "She's...she was..." And his mind flashed to the two girls he'd asked about Allysin the other day when he had come to pick her up. The two that had told him she'd gone to take that other girl home. _But what was her..._

"What's her name?" Sheldon finished the thought, looking over at his friend.

Danny blinked as he struggled to get back to "work" and looked over at the doctor. "I don't know...well I mean I don't know offhand. She's a friend of..." And he let it go. "Come on...we have to do this."

They slowly took her off of the chair and laid her down on the floor. There was blood pooled on the books on the table and dripping onto the floor and the two CSIs made sure to keep her away from all of that. As soon as they had her down, Sheldon began going over her and Danny began swabbing and gathering...

"This is going to take some time..." Danny mumbled softly, looking up and around the expanse of the library."There could be anything anywhere." A heavy sigh, but also the same thoughts of the same blonde Mac was having were shooting through his brain.

"Same cause..." Sheldon said softly, checking her over. "Strangled and then broken neck." Checking her over as he saw trace under her nails and slid bags over her hands and secured them to keep the evidence where it was or at least where it wouldn't 'disappear' on the way to the ME's office. "But this one definitely fought." When Danny looked down, Sheldon pointed to a couple of bruises on her arms and the deeper bruises on one knee. "He had to get a bit more forceful on her."

Danny had to smirk. "He don't have any idea about New York girls. They're not as easy to push around as Chicago kids."

Sheldon snickered softly. "Especially Staten Island girls, huh?"

"Damn skippy, there." Danny said, logging more evidence.

Hawkes had to laugh. Danny had never said that before. It just...wasn't _him_ to say 'skippy' to anything. But ever since Sin had been saying it around the lab, a lot of the techs had been picking up on things the kid said. And with Danny they usually stuck.

Danny moved off down one of the rows across from the table, his eye catching something on the floor just as Mac, Don and Stella walked up.

"What's up?" Stella asked Hawkes as they walked up to the body.

"Same as before. As all the others. Strangulation then broken neck." Hawkes said, looking up at them.

"Then all the blood?" Flack asked.

Sheldon shrugged. "Won't know till we get the samples back to the lab. It's not hers. There isn't any open wound."

Don looked at Mac and a snort. "So now he's trying to scare everyone with the mess?"

"Sounds like it." Stella said, still seeing Mac distrac--

"What's that?" a low growl from Mac at Danny as he walked back over to them with what he'd found in the aisle.

Danny blinked not having heard that tone but for when someone was in REAL trouble in the lab. The younger detective blinked at Flack and Stella and then blue eyes shifted back to his boss. "Something I found down the way." holding up the baggie with the...

"MP3 player..." Mac mumbled as he reached out and took the bag from Danny. He turned it over and over in his hands and a soft, "Allysin's..."

"Mac not necessarily." Don said gently. "I'd be willing to bet every girl in this school has one of those. It could have been one of the girls that saw the body and they dro--"

Mac merely held up the player for the detective to see the play list. "Johnny Lee. One of Sin's favorites."

They all stared at each other for a moment and a heavy sigh as Mac slipped the evidence into his coat pocket. "I want this entire library gone over." he said softly and headed out again, getting on his phone and calling Lindsay and telling her a list of names to bring to go over the school. Walking back out into the main hall and leaning against the lockers. _Where are you, brat?_ He thought as he watched the corridors emptying out as the teachers were let go after being questioned. One thing was for sure; he couldn't just sit around and wait. He headed out to the cars and got into the first Tahoe and before starting it up, he opened the phone and called home.

"Come on, Sin...pick up..." he said softly as the phone rang and rang."Jesus, Allysin..." he grumbled and hung up and re-dialed her cell phone. It rang once then twice and Mac was about to hang up when suddenly the tone stopped and there was...

"Sin?" he said softly, struggling to keep the anger out of his voice. "Sinny?"

There was no answer but Mac could hear faint background noise. This wasn't helping. "Allysin? Answer me!" he nearly shouted into the phone. There was a definitely young female squeak and then a click. "_**ALLYSIN**_!" Mac roared into the phone which caught the attention of one of the uniforms nearby and he ran into the library and flagged down Don.

Flack blinked at the patrolman's report and left the CSIs and jogged out to the SUV, going over to the driver's door. "Mac! What's wrong?"

The older detective looked over at him and shook his head. "She answered the phone...but she didn't say anything."

Don blinked and looked at the cell phone in Mac's hand. "We can find her then. You know we can trace cell signals."

Mac looked at Don and Flack could see the expression in the CSI leader's eyes. "You okay, Mac?" he asked gently.

Mac was lost. He thought he could hold it together. But the MP3 player and then the phone...and he shook his head. "I have to find her."

Don nodded and motioned for a uniformed officer to come over. "Sounds fair to me. Let Jessie take you home or back to the lab...wherever you want. Just let him drive you." Opening the door slowly and taking Mac's arm to help him out of the SUV and the five feet to the open cruiser door. The uniformed cop nodded at the look given to him from the detective and once Mac was sitting in the car, the cop jumped in and drove off. Don sighed and moved back into the library and in quiet mumbles told Stella what was going on and that it might be best for her to take over the investigation since it was definite that Mac might not be able to concentrate until they all made sure Sin was safe again.

Stella nodded and went back to helping Danny and Sheldon collect evidence, but then when Lindsay and the rest of the crew showed up, they all took sections and Stella moved off to let them work as she made a few calls. One to Adam to work to get the signal of Sin's phone triangulated. The next to missing persons to report the girl missing and the third to a few friends in the Department to put extra patrols around Mac's apartment building.

And speaking of the apartment building...

Mac got out of the cruiser when it pulled up to the front doors of the building and a nod with thanks to the officer before walking into the complex and heading across the lobby to the elevator. A nod at the doorman behind the desk and the detective headed into the lift and up to his floor. Needless to say he was distracted and upset. Nervous wouldn't even come into the picture yet and he sighed as he pulled out the keys and unlocked the --

When he touched the door it slowly swung open.

Blink.

"Sin?"

Silence met his question and he drew his gun, slowly stepping into the apartment. "Allysin?" he called out again, his gaze taking in everything about the apartment and seeing nothing had been disturbed. Edging along the wall towards the kitchen...swinging around the corner and leveling his gun, there was no one there so he jerked up the gun and turned to look across the living room towards the bedrooms. Now the nervousness would kick in. And so would the adrenaline.

"Sweetheart?" he called out, his throat feeling dry and like it was filled with gravel.

Still no answer and he moved quickly across the living room and to the short hallway that the rooms were off of. A quick look into his room as he passed and seeing nothing wrong or out of place. There was one room left and he slowly paced up to the half-closed door. A gentle nudge with his foot to push it open the rest of the way and the gun leveled once more. "Sinny?" he said softly, his gaze sweeping the room. Everything was in order.

Then he heard the sniffles.

Mac frowned as he moved closer to the bed and looking past it into the corner saw Sin curled up in a tight ball. "Allysin!" he said, shoving the gun into its holster on his belt and scrambling over to her. The moment his hand touched her shoulder, she screamed and tried to curl up farther, but Mac wasn't going to let it happen.

"Sin! It's me...it's your father...come on, sweetheart...come here..." he said gently. trying to calm her down. Many times he'd helped hysterical victims and many times he'd been caught in a sea of tears. But this one would always be different. As she finally began to recognize him, the teenager turned from where she had curled up and wrapped herself around her dad clinging on for dear life, crying all the harder. Mac blinked for a moment and carefully stood up, picking her up with him and walking over to the bed, sitting down and not letting her move farther from him then she was now.

Stroking her hair gently and a steady stream of "It's all right, baby girl...Sshh...calm down...It'll be all right, Sin...I'm here" hugging her tight to his chest and rocking her gently. After a good 20 minutes of trying to calm her down and finally getting her to stop crying, Mac closed his eyes and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Talk to me, Sinny...what happened?"

She merely shook her head and buried her face in the crook of his neck and sniffled again.

"Allysin...please...sweetheart what happened at school? Why did Danny find your player in the library? What did you see?"

There was a quiet moan as she squeezed her eyes shut tighter and bit down hard on her lip to keep from crying again.

Mac sighed softly and when his phone rang, he shifted her slightly so he could reach into his pocket to get it and open it. "Hello?" There was a short pause and he went on softly. "Yeah, Stella she's fine and she's here at home. Do me a favor and have Lindsay and Sheldon and the others go over all of that and no one goes home till we catch this animal." The low growl in his voice was back and was enough to tell Stella that he was serious. "No. It'll be all right I think. She's in shock mostly...but she won't tell me what happened yet." Another pause. "Yeah I'll probably be in in the morning. I'll talk to you then." And without much more than a "bye" he shut the phone and set it aside on the bed and went back to trying to calm his daughter down.


	6. The Day After

When Mac walked into the lab the next morning at 6am, a few of the CSIs looked up but didn't stop what they were doing. After a long night of trying to calm Allysin down and get her to talk – both attempts fruitless - he decided to take a shower and head on into the office. He didn't like having to leave her at home but there was no way in hell his daughter was going anywhere after the day before.

In the shower at 5, as the hot water cascaded over him and seemed to take most of the stress of the night with it down the drain, Mac closed his eyes and tried to figure out their next move. Usually with his training and such in the Marines and the discipline, the shower hadn't been a place to really try and focus on things. But he couldn't get his mind off of this particular idea, but no amount of hot water was going to wash it away.

Once out of the shower and dressed, he went to get a cup of coffee and as he sipped at it, he leaned against the doorframe of Allysin's room, watching her sleep, her breathing quicken then slow, an occasional jerk of a limb under the covers, that worried and scared look on her face. Mac sighed softly and knew he had to do one thing before he left. Reaching into his coat pocket, he took out his phone.

--------------------

When Danny Messer's phone rang at 5:14a.m., one hand lazily reached over to the nightstand and he grabbed the cell, flipping it open and holding it up to his ear, a mumbled, "Messer..."

"Danny, Mac. I need you to do me a favor."

--------------------

There was a knock on the Taylor apartment door and Mac let the younger detective in. Danny grinned at his boss, now having gone through a shower and stopping on the way to pick up a dozen donuts and a cappuccino for the brat. "So how's she doin'?" Danny asked as he set the pink box down on the dining room table.

Mac sighed and shook his head. "She's sleeping right now. Sort of. More of a troubled—well." A heavy sigh and he went on. "She won't talk. She won't...do anything."

Danny gave the older detective a wink and he grabbed a donut out of the box and took a bite as he headed into the kitchen and to the coffee maker which he knew always had fresh coffee on. Pouring a cup and heading back into the other room, he set the cup down on the coffee table and a nod at Mac. "Go on. I'll watch her. Won't let her leave my sight."

Mac looked over his shoulder at the closed bedroom door and then back at Danny and a nod. "All right." And heading to the door, he opened it, but before he walked out, he looked at the other CSI for a moment. "Hey Danny...thanks." he said softly.

Danny waved it off with another bite of the donut. "Go on...she'll be fine."

Mac nodded and left the apartment, making sure to lock it up and headed to the elevator.

Danny knew that Sin was usually up with the sun so for her to sleep till this late (if you could even call it late) wasn't going to help if he let her get away with it. So he picked up the remote for the TV and called out, "Sinny! Got donuts for ya! Yer favorite, ya little snot! Get out here or I'm eatin' em all up!"

An hour after Mac had left the apartment, Danny had settled in, stretching out on the overstuffed couch and finding a movie on Showtime. "Hmm...at least semi decent entertainment." He mumbled to himself. He'd finished off the cup of coffee 20 minutes ago and as he tucked one arm up and hand under the back of his head, crossing his legs along the sofa, he set the remote down on his chest and was drifting in and out of a doze when he suddenly felt someone very warm and small curl up on top of him.

He blinked awake and looked down, seeing Sin snuggling close against him, and the detective smiled. "Hey, brat." he mumbled softly, realizing she must have just slid over the back of the couch and was now trying to push herself in the few inches of space between him and the back of the couch..

Sin looked up at him for a moment but slid her arms around his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. "Hey." was all she offered.

"How you doin', kiddo? Want something to eat?" All softly asked as he dragged fingers through her silky blonde hair in more of a petting way to keep her calm.

Sin shook her head and yawned, Danny's ministrations working better than he knew. "Not right now...was gonna make lunch in a couple of hours." A wicked little grin up at him. "I made lasagna last night. We still have some left over. Want?"

Danny dropped his free hand over his chest and moaned playfully. "Now how come you do that to me? Huh? Here I'm tryin' to be a good boy and take care of you...and you go teasin' me with lasagna." He carefully tugged on a lock of her hair and a kiss to her forehead. "You don't fight fair, Taylor. One of these days...you and me're gonna battle."

Allysin squeaked at the hair tug, "Or you can just marry me," she said, and shifted against him, yawning again. "And if I was truly evil then I'd just eat the stuff and not offer you any at all."

"This is true." he said and watching her still, he wrapped one arm around her and held her close. "Why don't you take a nap...in a couple of hours we'll have some lasagna and I'll kick your ass at some video games, hm?"

That only elicited a soft snort from the girl and she nodded. "Sounds like a deal..."

Danny smiled and went back to watching the movie again, turning down the sound - didn't need any loud gun battles going on right now - and feeling her breathing even out, he stifled a yawn himself and tried to re-focus on the TV but felt his lids growing heavier every moment.

"Danny...?" the soft whisper dragged him back to reality for only that last moment.

"Yeah, Sin?"

"Thank you...for staying here with me."

The young detective smiled and kissed the top of her head again. "Don't worry about it. Go to sleep. Nothin'll get to you while I'm around. You're perfectly safe."

And in the next minute, both the girl and the detective were sound asleep on the couch as Sonny Corleone got it at the toll booths in the Godfather.

--------------------

The lab was buzzing with activity when Mac walked in and a certain pride had to tug at a smile on his face knowing that they were all good people. He headed into his office noting that Lindsay and Adam were working on the vic's clothing and seeing Sheldon comparing some slides under the scope.

Feeling a bit better knowing that Allysin was being watched over and himself being in one of the two places he truly felt comfortable, he looked at the stack of papers on his desk and sighed. Going through it for a moment and seeing nothing that was dire or urgent, he was tugged out of the calm by the young man with the mail.

"Here ya go, Detective Taylor," the boy said and Mac offered the kid a smile.

"Thanks, Josh." he said softly, taking the stack of mail from the boy who nodded and left the office.

Mac looked through the different letterheads from the senders and tossed the ones that could wait down onto the des--

The small yellow padded envelope was addressed to him. But there was no return address. The postmark was Manhattan. In fact Mac knew the postmark was from the post office just down the way near 1 Police Plaza. His gaze narrowed as he gently squeezed the package feeling something inside. He looked up at the lab and slowly sat down, picking up the letter opener and gently sliding it under the opening at the flap and slowly slicing the end open. Taking the envelope by the corner, he lifted it and gently shook it and watched as Sin's cell phone fell onto his desk.

"Hey Mac, I didn't—Sin's phone?" Stella said walking into his office but her voice drifted off when she saw him holding the envelope and the phone on the desk. "Where'd it come from?"

Mac shook his head and scooped the phone back onto the envelope and headed out of his office and to the lab and over to Sheldon. "Hawkes...do me a favor and run over this. Tell me what you can find. Prints, calls, anything."

Hawkes nodded and took the phone in gloved fingers gently, turning it around to look at it before taking the envelope as well and opening the phone, he began dusting it for prints.

Mac turned to Stella as she stood behind him. "Danny's watching Sin at home. If he calls for anything I want to know about it." he mumbled softly.

Stella nodded and handed him a manila file. "Coroner's official report. Chelsea Montgomery. 15. She was strangled, raped and then killed. Not in the library...she was just..._put..._there."

Mac frowned and looked at the papers then at her. "Now how the hell does someone just walk into a girls' school carrying a body and set it up in the library without anyone seeing?"

"_Someone_ saw." Stella said softly.

Mac blinked but the realization hit him. "Sin." he said. "This makes her a target."

"I don't mean it to sound like this...but maybe that's a good thing." Stella said

Mac glared at her and turned, heading for his office again.

"Mac! Think about it! If Sin's the target, then we have an up on him. He'll do anything to get to her! And that means get desperate and most likely get sloppy! We've seen it before."

Mac sighed heavily and slumped in his chair behind the desk, running a hand over his face. "I know. I thought about that all night long, Stell. Exactly the same thing. But I refuse to put Allysin up as bait just to catch someone that we **should** be able to catch without her."

Stella watched her friend for a long minute. "And you know that Allysin herself would want to help. Hell, knowing her, she'd already would have talked Danny into --" and before she could finish the sentence, Mac was on the phone. Stella had to snicker softly. He was so predictable. Flack had said once before that Mac had the perfect poker face...but Stella knew precisely how he'd react to different ideas.

--------------------

The phone ringing caused Danny to blink open his eyes for a moment and a mumbled growl as he shifted and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Sin whimpered softly as he moved and he kissed her forehead to calm her down as he opened the phone and...

"Messer."

"Danny? Mac. How is everything going?"

Danny blinked a bit more to wake up -- again -- and he groaned and let his head drop back onto the pillows and yawned. "Mac...everything is fine. Sin's taking a nap. I'm watching the Godfa--" but when he looked at the TV there was some cartoon on about...dinosaurs? "Watchin' a movie... Now will you quit worryin' and go back to work?"

"No calls? No one at the door?"

"Nothing. Quiet as a morgue." Out before he could stop himself and cursed himself silently at the comment, but Mac apparently didn't pick it up.

"All right. Just...let me know if anything happens."

"Yes Daddy." Danny smirked as he teased the older detective and hung up.

"What'd he want?" Sin mumbled into his chest.

"Wanted to know if I'd already abused you and had all sorts of fun with your young nubile bod--" but before he could finish, she was driving fingers into his sides and his stomach tickling him. "**NO**! SIN!"

She finally stopped and when they both settled down again, she closed her eyes. "Let that be a lesson, Messer. Don't mess with the big dogs."

Danny STARTED to say something back to retaliate, but then thought better of it and stopped, closing his mouth. "Sure, snot. Anything you say."

--------------------

"This is the part of the job…" Flack said with a sigh.

Stella nodded in agreement and they walked up the steps to the brownstone with the flowerboxes and the million colors of little pansies and daisies. "Cute little place." She said more to herself than really looking for a response.

The detectives knocked on the door and when a frail looking woman opened it, they both put on the smiles. "Mrs. Montgomery?" Flack said gently.

The woman nodded. "You must be the detectives that found…." but she couldn't go on.

"We need to ask a few questions, ma'am," Stella said softly trying to be as gentle as possible.

Mrs. Montgomery nodded slightly and offered the way into the house and Flack and Stella walked slowly past her and into the front room. The woman closed the door behind them and drew her shawl around her shoulders tighter as she soon was walking into the main room herself. "Please have a seat."

The pair sat down, Stella sat on the couch beside the woman and Flack took the chair across from her. "Mrs. Montgomery, we're very sorry for your loss….but we need to know if lately you'd noticed anything different about Chelsea's habits. If she had made any new friends lately? Anyone different she was hanging around with?" Flack asked, taking out his little notebook and a pen.

The other woman thought about the questions for a moment and shook her head. "No. Chelsea was a very good girl. She'd always tell me who she was going out with or when she'd be home." And for a moment it seemed as if she'd break down completely.

Stella thought for a moment. "So there haven't been any new neighbors moving in or out or…no one different you've seen around the area?"

The woman shook her head again.

A moment of frustration and the detectives stood up. "We'll see our way out. Thank you, Mrs. Montgomery….for everything and we'll be in touch." Flack said, and followed Stella out the door and down the steps away from the house.

They stood on the sidewalk for a moment looking up and down the street and finally Flack sighed. "I don't know what to do about this one, Stell. It's just…..who wouldn't notice a strange guy wandering around a neighborhood. I mean yeah down in the Bronx maybe…but in a nice place like this? It's like everyone knows everyone else."

"Yeah…this is one of those neighborhoods that if anyone strange were to show up the department would get a mass of calls that there was a prowler on the streets." She had to smirk. It was just fact. "Well let's go see if we have anything new to work off of…" she said and they headed for the car, Flack getting behind the wheel and pulling out away from the Montgomery place and heading back to the Crime lab.

--------------------

"Well the traces from her rape kit came back." Sheldon said, handing the folder on Chelsea over to Mac.

Mac opened it and frowned. "Traces of spermicide and latex? So this guy used a condom?" A look up at Hawkes..

Sheldon nodded. "Seemed like it. But also the force of the attack was entirely too brutal, Mac." He said, shifting a couple of papers. "It was like….this guy was using something 'else' for the rape."

Mac blinked. "Foreign object? But then why would he…..?"

Sheldon shrugged slightly. "That part we haven't gotten to yet. We're still trying to test for what was used. But that might be it. Rather than leave traces of what he'd done to her this way it still won't show. Could be metal, glass, wood…"

Mac's lip twitched at the very thought of the obvious brutality of this and shook his head. "We have to get on this….we have to find this bastard." He mumbled softly.

"That's what we're doing, Mac." Hawkes said quietly. "We're all pulling double and triple shifts until we find this guy."

Mac merely nodded as he headed back to his office and sat down. Didn't help, though. All he saw were the pictures of Sin around on his desk and this worried him even more. Somewhere out there was some lunatic who was killing young girls for what?? And now this new news…the guy was sick and twisted. The detective sighed and ran a hand down over his face and then went back to the files on his desk of Chelsea and the first girl, Bethany. But he couldn't help but finally reach up and pick up the one picture of him and Sin at the boardwalk when she was 11 and carrying around that ridiculously huge stuffed dog she'd won. A soft smirk and he finally put the picture down and turned his gaze out the window. The weather was changing. The dark clouds overhead would soon break away with rain. He looked at the calendar and then back out to the sky. November. Soon the snow would start and it would make this all the more difficult.

They had to stop this. Now.


	7. Snow

"Danny! It's snowing!!" Sin called out from the kitchen.

"Yeah I'm thrilled beyond all belief." The detective said as he flipped through the channels again. It'd been six days they were no closer to catching this guy than they had been from the first. And every day he'd been asked by Mac to stay with Allysin while he was at work. Danny really didn't mind the babysitting job. He adored Sin. She was cute and fun. They liked a lot of the same things so spending time with her wasn't a huge deal. It was like getting paid to do fun things and all he had to do was make sure she didn't get into TOO much trouble.

The days had been getting darker and this morning as Danny had walked into the Taylor's apartment building and a wave at the doorman, he'd noticed that the dark clouds overhead would threaten either rain or snow. Judging by the sudden snap of cold weather, it was undeniable it would've been snow most likely.

Sin had gone into the kitchen to make some cocoa for herself, and Danny had been around the channels for the third time now. But when she squealed about the snow, he had to chuckle softly. She was finally coming back to her old self after a week of nightmares and not sleeping and driving her father to drink. Well not really, but sometimes Danny could swear Mac could just use one night to drink himself silly but then the younger detective knew that that was never an option for the ex-Marine.

So every day at 6am, Danny would show up at their door to watch over the girl while her father went to the lab and the others drove themselves harder to find out who was terrorizing New York.

"I wanna go ice skating!" she said as she came back in and sat down beside him on the couch, curling up against his side and sipping at the cocoa.

"Yer kidding," he said, looking at her sideways. "I've been trying to get you out of this apartment for a week and NOW you want to go out? When we could both freeze our asses off in the cold and wet?"

Sin snorted softly. "You were the one who taught me."

"When you were **ten**." He said with a smirk. "Besides it's too early. The lake hadn't froze over yet."

Pout.

Danny blinked and looked at her. "Don't do that."

Pout.

"Allysin Taylor, I swear…."

POUT.

There was a heavy sigh from the young detective and he shook his head. "Yer gonna kill yer dad….then yer gonna kill me….then who's next? Sheldon? Flack?" Teasing her and an elbow gently shoved into her ribs. "Tell ya what, brat. If it snows like this all night and the pond freezes then I'll take you skating tomorrow. Deal?"

"Deal!" She set the cocoa down and wrapped her arms around his one and rested her head against his shoulder. "Naw…Maybe dad and Hawkes and Flack…but you I'll keep. Least for a little while till my plans are put in motion and I take over the world. If you're a good boy I might even keep you as my pet."

Danny broke into laughter and shook his head. "You are one of a kind, Sinny…..definitely one of a kind."

----------------------------

Mac Taylor was not happy.

And when Mac Taylor wasn't happy….no one rested.

He stared at the file in front of him with the pictures of the two girls and the list of evidence that they had collected from the girls and from the scenes. Nothing was adding up. Nothing was making sense. Who was this clown? Why did he come to New York? And for the 10th time that morning since he'd been in there he glared at the phone on his desk and fought himself from calling Danny. The younger detective was good at what he did. He'd been a cop for over 10 years now. He'd worked his way up from the ranks to be one of Mac's "chosen". Sure he was a wildcard sometimes. But Mac knew he could count on Danny to do what he was asked.

As for the other one?

Well…Allysin Taylor was too much like her father but in so many ways just like Danny. She was hardheaded and stubborn to a point when she wanted something and would stop at nothing to get it. Mac had been on the receiving end of that perfect pout with the hound dog blue eyes too many times and far too many times had given in to her. And far too many times she had found her way into some sort of trouble. This time she was in a danger that had the older detective on edge. And a trouble he knew they had to find and get off the streets before another young girl died.

"Sheldon…" Mac mumbled softly as he walked up to the ME investigator and leaned against the table where there was a girls' school uniform spread out over the lighted table. "So what've you got?"

Sheldon looked up for a moment and a heavy sigh as he held up a snippet of the shirt and pushed the file over to him. "Nothing that we couldn't have figured out without all of this." He said. "There was no way possible that all of that blood was hers. Yet when Kendra tested it, everything even down to the DNA matched. The only thing we can do is have Sid drain her and see how much blood she has in her."

Mac blinked and read the file from DNA and then a sigh himself. "This is just…weird. How can that blood have her DNA and ….."

Sheldon didn't answer since he knew that the odds of coming up with anything that sounded even REMOTELY intelligent wouldn't be so to Mac.

"Well, there's nothing on Chelsea anywhere." Stella said walking up to the pair. "She was an A student…had a lot of friends that had nothing but praises for her."

"Obviously someone didn't think she was such a great person." Mac said in a soft grumble.

"Not quite," Stella said a shake of her head. "Even the occasional random girl that didn't 'know' her or wasn't a real pal still didn't have anything bad to say about her."

Mac sighed and headed off down the hallway, carrying the files he'd been flipping over a few seconds ago. _There's a reason. There's a connection. There always is. _ Stepping off of the elevator to the morgue, he walked over to one of the occupied tables that held a small form covered with a sheet. Mac looked down at the girl for a minute, taking in the auburn hair, long dark lashes and the smooth skin. Bastard…..what kind of an animal wou—

"Nothing new on the report." Sid said softly from just behind the detective.

Mac blinked a few times out of the fog and looked over his shoulder at the medical examiner and forced a small smile hello before turning his gaze back to the girl. "Who would knock her out then break her neck? If he was going to kill her…I mean…why stop strangling her?"

Sid gave a slight shrug as he stepped to the other side of the table across from the detective and looked down at her. "I don't know. Shame, too. Pretty little girl."

There was silence as Sid looked up at Mac. He knew – as well as everyone else – what was running through Mac Taylor's mind. Amazingly one of the very few times they all could read him. But then this case was hitting hard on everyone as it was. Only because they were all worried about one certain fifteen year old that was family.

"What about the…." Mac started but he couldn't bring himself to finish the inevitable question.

"The rape?" Sid finished.

Mac sighed softly and nodded.

"It was brutal. Like the other. Vaginal tearing and massive bruising on both inner thighs." He studied the detective as he spoke in calming tones. Knowing full well…."Mac…"

Mac looked up at him and a slight shake of his head. "I know, Sid, but still I can't help thinking that this could have been…." And his voice faded off.

Sid waited a long minute and then offered quietly. "But it…wasn't." He knew that Mac prided himself on not getting too emotionally attached with the victims or families and fought with each case to not let it get to him. But it was also impossible to do this for 25 plus years and keep burying it until one case….was going to hit too close to home and things would happen. Change. Darken.

Mac stared at the girl another minute and a look up at Sid again. "Anything else…let me know ASAP." And he turned and headed out of the morgue and back to the elevator and back to the lab. Once more behind his desk, he started looking through the files again and finally turned and stared out the large plate glass windows overlooking the city below him.

And the snow fell harder making everything white.

And clean.


	8. Holiday wishes

_((First off, I'm SO sorry for the delay. Real life invaded and I couldn't escape. But the good news is now I'm back and we're gonna wrap this thing up xD Thanks to everyone for the reviews and let's get the gang awake and back on the trail. Holiays are here and they gots a killer to catch!! Have fun, all))_

-------------------- -------------------- --------------------

-------------------- -------------------- --------------------

November.

Normally people are rushing about trying to fit in work and then thinking about the holidays and that all important day after also called 'Black Friday' by the retail markets. Kids looked forward to a 4-day weekend and the stress for the next 6 weeks started.

Mac Taylor didn't have that luxury.

Neither did his detectives nor the lab.

They had a priority and Mac wanted it done.

He walked into Trace that afternoon and watched Adam and Danny working o— wait. What the..."Danny?" the concern in his voice only partially hidden from the anger rising in the tone.

The young CSI looked up, "Hey Mac." And knowing what he was thinking, he backed away from the table and walked off to the side a bit. "Now before you get all blood boiling, Allysin asked Stella if she could stay with her today since she said she had some things to do and wanted to do some shopping so…it's not like I left her alone."

Mac looked around the lab, through the glass walls and didn't see the other mentioned anywhere and sighed softly. "I just wish you'd tell me these things."

"Talk to yer daughter." Danny said with a smirk. "You know she changes her mind at the drop of a hat."

Mac sighed heavily and nodded. "This whole….just has me…."

Danny watched his boss for the longest moment. He'd never seen Mac like this. Not even a couple of years ago when Aiden was….."Mac…it'll be all right." He said quietly. "And we'll find this guy. Don't worry so much."

Mac looked at the young man and was about to snap something back but realized that he was right and just nodded. "I know. But still it…..when it hits closer to home like this….."

Danny nodded and turned and headed back to Adam, a quiet conversation and Mac headed to his office. All the evidence collected written on the wall. All the possible variations of the killer's profile. He stared at the scribbling, some of it his….Stella's…..Danny's. Any of them that had anything to add.

And none of it was making sense.

-------------------- -------------------- --------------------

"STELLA!" Sin squealed from the dressing room next to the one the CSI was in trying on a new pair of slacks for work. Well? When in Rome…..

"Allysin?" she called out, a smirk recognizing the tone as not one of concern just…..a teenage girl.

Sin bounced out of the dressing room and into the narrow hallway between, spinning in front of the full length mirror at the end of the hall. "It's SO freakin' gorgeous!" she said, looking at herself in the mirror. She had tried on a short little skirt with some maroon and green plaid stripes on it. A hint of white at the hem. And as far as it went in Sin's eyes perfect for Christmas. A white lacy top decked it all off and she threw a look up at Stella when she walked over and stood behind the girl. An approving nod and Stella laid her hands on the girl's shoulders, a mumble in her ear.

"Perfectly adorable….and perfect to catch someone's eye, hm?"

Sin looked up at Stella in the mirror and fidgeted a bit. "Dunno what you're talking about." She grumbled.

"Oh Sin, please. First off I'm not your father..." and a smirk with a mumble, "…but then if I was I'd most likely seen it months earlier." Snicker and another look at her in the mirror. They grow up so fast. Even when they're not your own. The CSI's fingers stroking slowly through strands of blonde hair down the teen's back. "Just remember, Sin. Another three years, hm?"

Allysin snorted softly and waved a hand as if trying to brush off the comments. "Please. As if he'd even bother with me." And she watched her reflection one more time before turning and heading back into the dressing room slowly.

Stella only chuckled and shook her head. She loved Sin more than anything. But she adored Danny too. To see them both together would be wonderful and she knew they'd be perfect for each other……but there was one thing in the way.

-------------------- -------------------- --------------------

"What're we gonna have for Christmas dinner?" Allysin asked as she settled in the chair in front of Mac's desk and pulled a piece of paper from his printer and took a pen from the holder. "We need to start planning now so I can get the stuff. And this weekend remember you promised to go get the tree."

Mac didn't even look up from the file he was reading. "Ham for dinner? And Danny promised he'd help me get the tree, yes."

"Papi….can Danny spend Christmas with us?" she asked in a casual manner.

Mac looked up at her and fought back the smirk. "He spends it with his family." Was all the older CSI would offer and then looked down at the file again. "But you can ask him."

Sin went pale and her eyes grew wide. "I don't THINK so! _You_ ask him." She said, mortified that he'd even THINK of telling her to ask him herself! What kind of father would do that to his daughter? .

"You want him there…." Mac teased. "…YOU…ask him."

"Daaaaaaad, please!? Just this once. Tell him he…uh….**has** to come over and spend the day cuz…youuuuu…..ah…..you might have to go to work! Yeah! So he has no -"

She was cute, he'd have to admit. But he was also one to own up to whatever it was and he'd tried to teach Sin that as well. "Allysin Taylor, I didn't raise you to be a coward. Face your butterflies and just go ask him!" A look up at the lab and a smirk finally. "He's in Ballistics."

Sin's jaw dropped.

To the floor.

And she gulped and began scribbling madly on the paper as she mumbled to herself like some psychotic Rainman killer plotting to himself. Finally Mac stood and picked up the file and headed for the door to his office and a look over his shoulder. "I'll be back in a little bit." He said and disappeared through the doorway.

She watched him go – a mock glare at his back – and finally after a few minutes, she sighed and stood up and headed out of his office and to Ballistics. Watching him through the plate glass window, every move he made as he shot the gun into the tank and then set it aside and fished out the bullet from the water then turning only to see her staring at him. They both froze in mid breath for a moment and suddenly he smiled that little boy smirk and headed out of the room with the gun and bullet and a playful nudge of his shoulder to hers as he passed.

"Hey, brat." He muttered softly. "Old man sends you off to harass hardworking employees, yah?"

"Oh please! He worships me! He wouldn't get ri—"and then it hit her. Fine. If her father was a chicken then she'd "help" him along. "Actually no, D. He sent me over here to tell you that….I…..You have to spend Christmas with us." Nod. "He said he might have to come in to do some work or something and there won't be enough time to wait for you to come over so-"

Danny stared down at her, the grin never fading. "Oh he did, huh?" As he set the bullet down on the table and began testing it against the sample he had in the scope.

"Oh yeah! And he had to go….uh…do…something…but he told me to come and tell you." Another nod.

Danny sighed heavily as he pushed his glasses up out of the way and began looking to match the striations."I dunno, Sinny. Ya know I usually spend Christmas with the family. Lotsa food and all that."

"We're gonna have TONS of food! And I'll even make you something special. Maybe a Tiramisu for dessert!" Bright little grin.

Danny pulled away from the microscope and looked at her and for a long moment it seemed that he'd say no. She saw it in his eyes. And she really didn't want him to say it. "Allysin…" he started.

It didn't even take much from Danny to break her. And that look was definitely one of the ways. "All right…no. Dad doesn't plan to work. But I thought it might be kinda neat if you'd …be around….for the holiday." A heavy sigh and she shrugged and started to turn around to leave. "Sorry. I thought if you *didn't have a choice* it'd be easier to get a yes out of you."

Danny watched her until she got to the door and then a soft, "Allysin? You never let me answer the question."

"Don't worry, D." she said with a wave at him. "You don't have to." And she headed for her father's office again, sitting back in the chair in front of his desk. Danny watched her and chuckled softly, shaking his head as he went back to the bullet.

-------------------- -------------------- --------------------

Seven thirty came by and Sin looked up at Mac. "Can we go home?"

Mac sighed and nodded, standing up and walking over to get his coat and hers and held it up for her to slip into. "I'm sorry, Sin." He said softly.

"Not a big deal. Holidays are for family. I know that…..I just wish that Danny was-"but she froze and for a moment tried to think if she actually said that in FRONT of her father and then a quick, "Welp! We better get on going! Dinner awaits!" and she started for the office door, but suddenly Danny stepped into it and blocked her path.

"Allysin! Good thing you're here. I was…gonna head out too…but I wanted to at least answer your question. Remember? This afternoon?" The young detective said with a grin and a playful wink at Mac over the sulky teen's head.

"I told you, Danny…don't worry about it." She said, her gaze dropping to the floor. _Jeez! Now he's come to make a total ass out of you in FRONT of your father. AS if just saying *no* wasn't bad ENOUGH, _her mind screamed as she waited for The Answer.

He reached over to her, fingers under her chin to make her look up at him and the most sincere of smiles. "I was going to answer, yes. I'd love to come to your place for Christmas."

Sin blinked. And then a look over her shoulder at Mac.

"I better get going now….can't miss the train. Too frikkin cold out there! Night you two." He said and headed for the elevator.

Blink again and she looked back at the elevator as the doors closed and he gave her a finger wiggle goodbye. "OH my God!! He said yes!!" she squealed and whirled, pouncing on her father and hugging him tight. "I can't believe it!! He said YES!"

Mac could only laugh as she bounced and hugged and squeaked and generally acted like a …well…kid at Christmas. "All right, all right…let's get out of here ourselves, hm?" And taking her hand, he led her out of the office and across the way to the elevator.


	9. The Coldest Christmas

It seemed as if the holidays might be quiet. There were no other reports of teenagers found murdered for 2 weeks now….and once Christmas break hit and the girls were all home with families to watch over them, Mac found it a bit easier to relax and enjoy his own Christmas with his daughter.

Well as much as a father _could _enjoy it with a teenager.

Knowing Danny would be there, Sin had dragged her father out and bought some presents for the younger CSI and even conned her father into helping her wrap them. Not a big deal, really. Mac was finding that his daughter was growing up. And if he wasn't careful she'd be gone in a heartbeat. He wouldn't be able to let her go, irregardless. This was really going to be amidst the Christmas music on the stereo and the dining table covered in festive paper and ribbons and tape, the Taylors finished wrapping the presents for Danny and set them under the tree.

---------- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------- ----------

Danny had shown up as promised early Christmas afternoon explaining to his boss that he'd spent the morning with family so he had all day to spend with Sin. Gave Mac some apprehension seeing how much time the pair were spending together, but it thrilled Sin beyond belief. She did as promised and made a ton of food (including the tiramisu) and after an early dinner, they got to opening presents.

Danny showed up at around noon and they all laughed and joked for a little while, drinking some eggnog (which Sin compared to – well…nothing she'd _ever_ want to try again) and at 2 they opened presents.

Sin had bought some nice shirts and a couple of ties for her father along with an MP3 player already loaded with all of his favorite music. There were some doodads for the truck and a new picture the two of them took at the Boardwalk during the summer which she had in a small frame for his desk.

Mac gave her some new clothes (skirts of course all as they _should_ be down to the knees) with some new sweats and some new sleepwear. A bunch of new CDs and some DVDs, some art supplies and some new forensics books. She always was reading the ones in his office and she'd gone through them all at least a dozen times since she'd started on them. There were some new boots for the snow and little things from Stella, Adam, Sid and Sheldon as well he'd brought home a couple of days before. Then finally there was a small velvet box when she opened it held a pair of ¼ carat diamond-stud earrings. Well if she insisted on growing up…at least he was going to make sure she was beautiful doing it.

Then Danny

He gave Sin a couple of packages. One with gift cards in them for Best Buy and Borders books, a cute little t-shirt with "100% Brat" emblazoned on it across the front, some video games and last, a small box much like the one Mac had handed her with the earrings. Sin took the box and looked at her father for a moment that didn't seem too happy at the idea of what the little box held, and then back at Danny. She slowly opened it and a quiet little gasp escaped her as she pulled out the gold heart with the small diamond.

"Oh God…Danny it's…it…." Was all she could say as he took the necklace from her trembling fingers and told her to turn around, sliding it around her neck and fastening it.

Allysin sat back again and picked up the small open designed heart and studied it carefully. "It's gorgeous." She said softly.

Danny felt quite proud of himself! He'd labored over the idea of getting her the heart at all for days and finally gave in to the fact that he knew she'd look great with it on and besides….just as Mac was realizing…..she was growing up. Barbie dolls (CSI or not) and Easy Bake ovens were a thing of the past. He gave her a gentle hug and then caught the look from Mac and gulped.

"Yours!" she said and handed him the few they'd gotten him which he opened, a new leather jacket for his bike, new key ring with his name on it and some small things like that.

Then it was dinner and they all laughed and carried on around the food, finally having eaten so much they all felt as if they'd either explode or just sit in the chairs and die a hideously slow death.

"Girl cooks. Men wash" she shot out, dropping her head back and closing her eyes. GOD she can't remember when she'd eaten his much! Even Thanksgivings weren't this bad!

"Girl cooks….girl clean up mess." Danny shot back and Mac chuckled as he got up and headed for the couch.

"Give it a bit and we'll help. How's that?" he offered.

"You both suuuuuuuuck." She moaned and stood up – not without some effort- and headed for the couch as well. "So what now?"

Mac was about to open his mouth when suddenly Danny's pager went off and then his phone. "This can't be good." He grumbled and hit the button to talk. "Messer."

A long minute and his blue eyes shifted from Sin to Mac and he slowly shook his head. "Sure. Be right there." Turning off the phone and he headed to the door. "Well it was nice to have at least a bit of quiet." A look at Mac as he passed his boss. "We have another girl. At the tree in Madison Square Garden."

Mac stood up and suddenly the food wasn't an issue. "I'll go with you." he said and knowing he didn't have a choice to try and argue as she grabbed her coat along with them, he looked at Sin. "And you, young lady, stay in the truck. Got it?"

Sin nodded and followed Danny out who was first as Mac locked up the apartment.

---------- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------- ----------

There were already an ambulance and four marked squad cars there when the Avalanche pulled up. There was also Flack. As Danny and Mac got out of the truck, leaving it running to keep the heater on, and grabbed their kits, Sin started top open the back door and Mac stopped her.

"Allysin! I said you stay in the truck." Walking over to the open door and the pout on her face. He sighed and gave a kiss to her forehead. "This won't take too long I promise. And if I have to I'll get Stella to call in Sheldon to help her process so we can take Danny back home, All right?"

She sighed and nodded and turned back to sit in the truck as he closed the door and she watched him. Well if nothing else what with the snow all over, at least she was warm in the still-running truck.

Walking up to the giant tree, Mac and Danny met up with Stella who was indeed already there, and found a teenage girl as if she was a doll on Christmas morning waiting for a child to –

Sitting up and leaned back against the decorated branches, in a short plaid skirt with some garish makeup on to make her look somewhat like Raggedy Ann they assumed.

"A couple were out for a walk and passed by," Flack said, reading off from his notes. "Said they thought it was something someone left like a mannequin…but then when they got closer realized what it was and called 911."

"When was this?" Mac asked.

"About 30 minutes ago. Well they found her then. They called when they got back to their apartment which is about 15 minutes from here." The detective said.

Stella walked up to the pair. "Sorry about Christmas…" she apologized.

Mac sighed as he followed her up to the body where Danny was already working with another CSI. "I was hoping…." He said softly. "Well let's get this going and get her to Sid." Watching Danny as he carefully moved the girl around trying to get as much evidence as possible when the deputy coroner finally showed up to release the body from the scene. They watched as she was loaded into the ambulance and Danny walked over to Stella and Mac.

This doesn't look like the guy we're after, Mac." The young CSI said. "She was hit on the head with something. Coroner said blunt force trauma was his original call. Didn't look like she was sexually molested." Turning back to the scene again. "Just doesn't add up."

Mac frowned and began walking around, looking in the snow and then shooting a look back at the Avalanche. The windows were fogged up, probably from the heater still on, and as he turned his attention back to – wait….the defroster was on…the truck was fine all the way to the scene…..the windows shouldn't be – "Allysin!" he said and left the scene, running across the way and back to the truck. He threw open the door behind the driver's side and looked in only to see nothing. "**ALLYSIN**!!" he called out, stepping back from the truck and looking around.

Stella and Danny had blinked when Mac took off for the truck, Danny finally loping along behind him and when he also saw that she wasn't in the Avalanche, he growled softly and ran around to the other side, skidding to a stop seeing footprints in the snow at the rear passenger door. "Mac!!" he called.

They both stood and looked down at the tracks, seeing one pair heading from one of the patrol cars. Stella began snapping pictures all the way from the unit and the other CSI began making a form. Flack had run up hearing Mac call out to the girl, and followed the tracks to the car and then back to the truck. "Won't matter." He told the CSI with the plaster. "Uniform shoes. Can get 'em anywhere you can buy a uniform if he didn't steal 'em from the station itself." He stopped when he saw the glare from both Danny and Mac and a sigh.

Mac felt his heart drop. "He's got her…..Jesus……" and he looked up and around. "He was right under our nose….and he got her." Slamming his fist against the side of the truck, dropping his head as Stella laid a hand on his back and rubbed gently.

"We'll find her, Mac. We won't stop until we find her and she'll be all right."

"Sure." Danny added. "Sinny's a fighter. She won't—"but then suddenly he realized just how bad that idea was if she did fight. Holy fuck. Don got on the radio and put out an immediate APB for – wait…for what? A uniformed cop? As if they'd actually….wait…and he put out a bulletin on Sin.

"We're gonna be lookin' for a 16 year old, female, long blonde hair and blue eyes. Weighs about 110 pounds. Approximately 5'2".Name is Allysin Taylor. She might be in the custody of a man in a police uniform. Handle with extreme caution. And call me the moment anyone sees anything." The radio repeated back the information and Don turned back to his friends who were still completely lost.

_What the hell were they going to do now??_


	10. The Lair

A quiet moan as she slowly woke up, her head throbbing madly and a foul odor stuck in her nose. _Chloroform_. She'd remembered sitting in the truck….then an officer opened the door and told her her dad had wanted her taken home. Sin had tried to argue as the cop took her arm and began to lead her out of the truck, and as soon as she was out of it, she turned to holler at Mac, but suddenly a cloth was held over her nose and mouth and she struggled but there was a LOT of chloroform on the rag and she dropped like the stock market in 1929.

AS she tried to regain her senses and stop the headache, she blinked a few times, looking around the warehouse.

For what it was worth….it was someone's home, obviously. There was a few pieces of scraggly furniture, a 13" black and white TV on a stack of plastic crates and a small fridge and microwave. Three space heaters were in a triangle around the 'living quarters' and three were triangulated around the workspace. Fifteen feet away from that, was a work station set up. Different machines, wires, Bunsen burners, beakers and bubbling…things. The light was low and she seemed to be alone which was good, but forcing herself to move, she also discovered that she was tied to the chair she was in, but the rope was only wrapped around her torso, not her legs. .

She resumed being still once more, closing her eyes and – wait. If he hadn't put a blindfold on her…he didn't care if she saw who he was. That meant he didn't have plans to let her go. Sin whimpered softly, trying to move her arms to see if she could get some leeway to try and get free or at least loosen the ropes so she could wriggle out. Twenty minutes later, she realized it wasn't working.

_All right, Sin, CALM down!_ Her mind screamed. _Dad told you what to do in a case like this. Relax. KEEP calm._ Try and find out where you are or at least describe the outside and inside of the building. There was always ways to find a place with just some info. She looked around the area, cataloguing what was where and how big the place was. Then a look up at the windows around the top of the building. Any planes…other buildings….anything!

It was too generic. She desperately kept looking and remembering little details, at least until she heard the door open far off to the right and she shot a look over. A man about the same build as her father and probably in his 60s walked in, carrying a small box of what looked like some foodstuffs.

"Ah you're awake. Good!" he said, setting the box down and walking over to her. "Time to let daddy know his angel is fine." Standing beside the girl, he pulled out her cell phone from his pocket and scrolled down to Mac's number and hit "send".

Mac had been riding the crew hard. But then they knew the consequences and were harder on themselves more so than he was. As he sat in his office going over past cases, and his phone rang, he picked it up but then saw "Sin" on the display, he hit the button. "Allysin!"

A low chuckle from the other end froze Mac's blood. "Bit worried about your precious little girl, Taylor?"

Mac snarled softly. "When I find you, you sonuvabitch, there's only going to be **US**. I'll make sure whatever they find _**left**_ is what's going to be buried **UNDER** the jail. Where's my daughter?"

"Oooo rough words for someone you **SHOULD** be praising now, detective. I'm the one taking care of your precious. Piss me off….and you might hear this…." The man reached down and grabbed a handful of her hair and violently twisted, causing Sin to howl in pain.

"_**ALLYSIN!"**_ Mac screamed into the phone, causing the entire lab to look up and being Stella, Sheldon, Danny and Adam running in. He pointed at the phone and then at the computer screen in his office and immediately Stella called for a trace.

"Now….we're going to play **NICE**….right?" The voice commanded.

"Sure," Mac said quieter, now with more backup and help behind him. "What do you want?"

"You don't remember. Cops never do. You'll figure it out, Taylor. Just _**do**_ it fast. I'm afraid I can't be responsible for this brat too much longer." 

**-click—**

Mac's heart fell as he stared at the phone for a moment and finally looked up at Stella who was just getting off of the phone herself.

"They didn't get one. They had to triangulate and we needed another…." She sighed and looked at the other guys. "…another 30 seconds."

Mac blinked. Then he stood up and nodded. "I have to try and figure this out."

"We'll _FIND_ her, boss," Danny said, more eager than anything now that they knew at least she was still alive!

Mac nodded and walked out of his office and to the elevator. They al watched him, and Stella turned to the others. "What're we waiting for? She's _out there_….and **we** have to find her!"

When he got home, he opened the door and the sudden stillness and quiet hit him hard.

Mac walked towards the couch, passing by the hallway and seeing Sin's door half closed down the hall. He sat down and stared out the windows of the terrace and sighed softly. He hadn't ever realized just how alone and strange he'd feel if anything ever had happened to her. Since he'd adopted her, it seemed that they were meant for each other. They made each other whole.

Now this…..person…..was threatening to take the part of his soul that he didn't know he'd had. Sin was his daughter. She was his life. And this maniac was trying to destroy that. Her.

_WHY?_


End file.
